1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a steel rod having a diameter of not less than 9 mm and a tensile strength of above 115 kg/mm.sup.2, and more particularly to a high strength steel rod which is produced from a high carbon steel which contains by weight percent, from 0.15 to 1.5 chromium. This rod can be drawn without subjecting it to a re-heat treatment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over about the past ten years, studies have been made to develop a process for producing steel rods by controlled cooling treatment. According to this method, the steel rod is hot rolled, and then the cooling rate is adjusted so as to complete phase transformation before the rods are taken up. The result is a structure which essentially consists of fine pearlite. The rod thus produced provides consistent and superior mechanical properties and results in a reduction in the amounts of scale produced, as compared to rods which have been taken up immediately after hot rolling. As a result, it is possible to draw steel rods to a final gauge without subjecting them to a re-heating treatment, i.e., patenting treatment.
However, at the present time, the controlled cooling technique provides satisfactory results only in the production of rods of relatively smaller gauge, say, on the order of 5 mm in diameter. A technique has not heretofore been disclosed for the production of steel rods of a larger gauge.
Heretofore, various types of controlled cooling apparatus have been used in practice. Although they vary in their cooling capabilities depending on their type, the basic principle which they incorporate is the same. In all of these, a fine pearlite structure having a small volume fraction of proeutectic-phase is obtained by adjustment or by control of the cooling conditions for the steel rod immediately after hot rolling. In other words, if the cooling rate is excessively higher than the desired cooling rate, bainite and martensite structures will result. On the other hand, if the cooling rate is lower than the aforesaid desired rate, then a large fraction of proeutectic ferrite and coarse pearlite results. A steel rod thus super-cooled or slow-cooled has very poor drawability. Accordingly, it is imperative that the rod be subjected to a re-heat treatment before subsequent drawing. Various attempts have been proposed in an attempt to provide cooling media and arrangement for cooling zones for optimum cooling in order to obtain a rod characterized by excellent drawability and mechanical properties in various controlled cooling apparatus. However, those controlled cooling apparatus suffer from the shortcomings of having limitations on adjustment or control of cooling rate. This is particularly critical for the slow cooling rates necessary for rods having large diameter. The result of failure to achieve the proper adjustment in slow cooling rate is a steel rod of rather poor tensile strength. On the other hand, if an excessive cooling rate occurs, then a large difference in temperature results between the surface portion and the inner portion of a rod, so that the surface portion is excessively cooled and transforms into a martensite structure. This greatly reduces ductility and toughness.
Many attempts have been proposed for improving the controlled cooling technique to obtain a high quality, large gauge steel rod. For instance, "Kobe Steel Company Technical Bulletin," Vol. 21, No. 2, p. 83, reveals that the addition of alloying elements such as chromium, tungsten or the like are effective in achieving high tensile strength and toughness for large gauge steel rods after the controlled cooling treatment. This also suggests that these alloy additions might be effective in the case of controlled cooling after hot rolling. In addition, in "TETSU TO HAGANE" (Iron and Steel), Vol. 57, No. 4 (1971), p. 120, it is disclosed that a tensile strength as high as 120 kg/mm.sup.2 could be obtained for a large gauge steel rod (for instance 14.3 mm in diameter) from direct heat treatment (ED treatment) using boiling water as a cooling medium. However, as has been recently reported in "Iron and Steel", Vol. 59, No. 11 (1973), the maximum tensile strength of the steel rod having a diameter of 9 mm falls in the range of from 110 to 115 kg/mm.sup.2 which suggests that there are severe limitations to such attempts.
Studies have now been made on the aforesaid controlled cooling techniques for large gauge steel rods using various types of controlled cooling apparatus, generally used in production scale applications, for the purpose of providing high tensile strength large gauge steel rods which are drawable without using any reheating treatment. As a result, a surprising success has now been achieved in producing such steel rods which have diameters above 9 mm and tensile strengths of about 115 g/mm.sup.2.